Technical Field
This disclosure relates to an automatic travel vehicle, a method of controlling a travel operation of the automatic travel vehicle, and a server that controls the travel operation of the automatic travel vehicle.
Background Art
Automatic travel vehicles that can travel along a travel guide line on a travel surface are known. The known automatic travel vehicle captures an image of the travel guide line attached on the travel surface, and controls a travel operation along the travel guide line based on the captured image. To cause the automatic travel vehicle to automatically stop at a spot, a mark is set at an adjacent portion of the spot, at a right side of the travelling direction of the travel guide line. When the automatic travel vehicle detects the mark set at the adjacent portion of the right side of the travelling direction of the travel guide line while the automatic travel vehicle is travelling along the travel guide line, the automatic travel vehicle is controlled to stop at the spot.
The automatic travel vehicle may travel in a first travelling direction and a second travelling direction, which are the opposite directions from each other, along the same travel guide line. When the automatic travel vehicle travels in the first travelling direction and the second travelling direction along the same travel guide line, the automatic travel vehicle can be stopped at one spot having one address number when the automatic travel vehicle travels in the first travelling direction, and the automatic travel vehicle can be stopped at the same one spot when the automatic travel vehicle travels in the second travelling direction. In this configuration, a mark indicating an action at the spot is attached at the adjacent portion of the travel guide line as follows. For example, one mark is attached at the right side of the travel guide line so that the mark is detectable by the automatic travel vehicle when the automatic travel vehicle travels in the first travelling direction along the travel guide line. Further, another mark is attached at the left side of the travel guide line so that another mark is detectable by the automatic travel vehicle when the automatic travel vehicle travels in the second travelling direction along the same travel guide line. Therefore, two marks are attached at the two adjacent portions of the travel guide line, which is at the right side and left side of the same travel guide line, with which the work load of attaching the marks along the travel guide line increases because the two marks are attached at the two adjacent portions of the travel guide line for each one of the spots set along the travel guide line.